August 16, 2002 A. EPSTEIN AND SONS INTERNATIONAL, INC. NAMES NEW VICE CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT In a move to ensure that one of Chicago's most established and successful architecture and engineering firms remains an industry leader, Mickey Kupperman has been promoted to vice chairman and CEO from president and CEO, John Patelski to president from executive vice president and Michael Damore to senior executive vice president from executive vice president for A. Epstein and Sons International, Inc. ("Epstein"). The promotions were announced by Epstein chairman Sidney Epstein. "We want to continue to grow this firm in positive new directions," said Epstein. "Mickey's vast industry experience and strong leadership skills coupled with John's and Mike's innovative ideas and approaches are a winning combination for maintaining the Epstein legacy begun over eight decades ago." Epstein is a Chicago-based firm specializing in architectural and engineering design and construction for a wide variety of corporate clients nationally and internationally. Epstein and its various units are consistently ranked tops by notable industry media including World Architecture, Engineering News Record, Building Design & Construction and Interior Design magazines. Kupperman, 66, will continue to guide the long-range planning and strategic direction of the firm. He was instrumental in positioning Epstein as one of the leaders in Eastern Europe for facility-related consulting, construction and development services. He plans to continue growing the firm internationally, particularly through its Warsaw office, where notable projects such as the Warsaw Financial Center were completed. He frequently serves as principal or officer in charge for large, complex designs including projects like the McCormick Place expansion and United Airline's Terminal 1 at O'Hare International Airport and plans to continue to undertake comparable commercial projects. Patelski, 44, leads the firm's business development efforts and will position the firm for future growth in emerging areas. One of Patelski's noteworthy accomplishments has been the successful negotiation, acquisition and integration of a new business unit. Under his direction, the firm acquired the Engineering Group of Natural Gas Pipeline of America, a division of KN Energy. Epstein formed a separate Energy Engineering business unit to oversee energy-related engineering projects, focusing on natural gas pipeline design and construction. Recently, this Energy Engineering group was spun off into a successful joint venture with Nicor Inc. called EN Engineering. Patelski recently teamed the firm with a number of leading service providers in the hospitality industry to form "Hotel Inn a Box". This alliance offers owners and developers 'one-stop shopping' when developing or rehabilitating a hotel property. Patelski looks to develop additional alliances and joint ventures to provide strategic consulting, architecture and engineering design and construction expertise combined with services like technology systems support. Damore, 53, leads the firm's architecture and planning efforts, concentrating on expanded growth in design itself along with the firm's geographic reach. Under Damore's leadership, Epstein consistently has produced award-winning designs including Renishaw's North American headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois and the underground parking structure and Great Hall of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. He looks to expand Epstein's role as design architect on a variety of projects by developing an in-house studio dedicated to such efforts. Additionally, Damore is currently increasing Epstein's global presence by pursuing a number of projects in the Pacific Rim, with emphasis on China and South Korea. Epstein is a full service architecture, engineering, construction, interior design and graphic design firm. Founded in 1921, the firm maintains its Chicago headquarters and offices in Los Angeles, California; Warsaw, Poland; and Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba in Israel. The Epstein family of companies includes A. Epstein and Sons International, Inc; ISI, the firm's interior design unit; ComCorp, the firm's graphic design unit and EN Engineering, the firm's energy joint venture with Nicor Inc.